31–40 of 41 posts
Is eBay?
eBay is losing its monopoly due to lameness. Also, Froogle is a definite eBay competitor, and Google lists brand new products, too. You used to be able to buy old hardware cheap off eBay, but their stupid fees have ruined buying cheap stuff. Also older eBay stuff seems to break down quite quickly these days.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they are they're certainly being discreet about it. Microsoft was obviously anti-competitive in the 90's. The Windows/IE bundling thing was only a small part of it. All of their software was designed to lock you in. It could sometimes be difficult to use a Microsoft product without having to use others. It can be a hassle to buy a new PC without Windows, but you couldn't do it at all back then. After the OS/2 fias…
Speaking of moving my data, is there a way for me to migrate out of Gmail? I read an interview (Playboy interview with the Google founders - http://kottke.org/plus/misc/google-playboy.html ) where Larry Page specifically said: 'For example, we just released Gmail, a free e-mail service. We said, “We will not hold your e-mail hostage.” We will make it possible for you to get your e-mail out of Gmail if you ever want t…
As far as I understand, the legality of a monopoly depends on whether it takes anticompetitive actions. Microsoft wasn't put down just for being big -- it was put down for including Internet Explorer into operating system, thus using an unfair advantage to promote its monopoly.
In my view they are definitely a monopoly (not convinced? try http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/01/what-an-antitrust-case-... ). The question is whether they are abusing the monopoly. Probably not at the moment. However, as the original question is a hypothetical then perhaps we can extend it to "what if Google starting abusing their monopoly - what should we do?".
Google isn't doing anything to stop you from building a competing search engine, and people try every so often (Cuil, Wolfram Alpha, etc.)
Also, Adwords are sold at auction, so doesn't the market set the price? The only sketchy thing I've seen with Adwords is that you're able to purchase someone else's trademark as an Adword.
But let me put a spin on it:
Should we in some way help Google (and others) to ensure the internet doesnt 'go down'? (perhaps oversimplifying)
This is assuming (I think correctly) that the internet is crucial in todays economy and that if Google (or other) goes down it will have strateguc economic impact.
For example, having special international oversight group, massive backup/resillience scenarios, etc.
Just a thought.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
eBay is losing its monopoly due to lameness. Also, Froogle is a definite eBay competitor, and Google lists brand new products, too. You used to be able to buy old hardware cheap off eBay, but their stupid fees have ruined buying cheap stuff. Also older eBay stuff seems to break down quite quickly these days.
Surely eBay has a far higher market share of "Online auctions" than google has of "Online search" though. That was my point.